During World War II, Henry J. Kaiser was a major producer of America’s “arsenal of democracy.” Biographer Mark S. Foster dubbed him a “patriot in pinstripes.” But he was no hawk; his eye was always on the human impact of the war, and his vision was focused on postwar reconstruction.

A key impetus behind Henry J. Kaiser’s involvement in physical rehabilitation was in response to his youngest son Henry Junior contracting multiple sclerosis in 1944 and being successfully cared for by program director Dr. Kabat.